Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.

Saturday, 22 September 2012

The Lebanese protested on Saturday in condemnation to the offences against
prophet of Islam Mohammad (PBUH) in the southern city of Bint Jbeil.
The protest, which comes among the series of "Loyalty to the Prophet"
protests that Hezbollah and Amal movement called for, took off at 5:00 pm with
tens of thousands chanting slogans of love and alignment to the noble prophet,
and condemning the US and Israel.

Parliament members, as well as political and social figures took part in the
march which headed towards the center of the city, where Development and
Liberation Parliamentary bloc MP Ali Bazzi read the statement of Amal movement,
assuring that "We came here, Muslims and Christians, to say: Here we are, at
your service o prophet of Allah".

Bazzi considered that "this Christian-Muslim assemblage is
the only direct reponse to everyone who wanted to offend the prophet and the
Islamic religion."

Adressing the crowds, the Lebanese MP further said: "You turned the
incitement project to a unity project on the religious, social, and moral
levels," adding that "one people, one religion, and our country Lebanon is one
nation."

Morever, Bazzi stressed that "when freedom of expression harms a basic symbol
of freedom in the humanity, then this would not be freedom at all, neither of
opinion nor of expression."

In parallel, Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Nawwaf
Al-Moussawi spoke in the name of Hezbollah, indicating that "in Bint Jbeil, the
protest has a differnt taste. We stand here to raise for the prophet the fists
that himiliated America before even humiliating Israel."

"The forearms that humiliated it in 2006 are capable of humiliating it in
every occasion and every battle," he added, pointing out that "in this area in
specific, the American missiles were dified and from this blessed field we say:
Here we are at your service o prophet of Allah."

Al-Moussawi went on saying: "We came to this place to continue our commitment
to our leader the Secretary General (of Hezbollah) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah... We
are here to say that we are not denouncing a despicable, dirty film, but we are
denouncing a programmed, systematic agression that is sponsored by the American
administration."

"The United States of America wants to tell everyone criticizing its
administration that it deals with them based on its own will. The US wants to
spread this policy in all the West. There was an attempt to stop the French
magazine from publishing the caricatures, but the White House insisted on moving
on with this campaign to tell the Muslims that this is our way in dealing with
you," he added.
In addition, Loyalty to the Resistance MP said: "We are proud that just like
we first raised the rifle, we raised out fist to defend the prophet of
Allah."

In this context, he wondered: "Why this silence? If this film mentioned a
president, a king, or some official, would the country remain silent or would it
cut the ties? What are you waiting for in the Arab world to meet the prophet,
and How will you be able to meet him?"

Al-Moussawi also considered that "there is an American, Western effort to
quench the uprising and the revolution in various ways. Here, I ask: Will you be
loyal to the prophet of Allah?"

"In Lebanon, we tell you not to worry, for this film will not have
consequences on the nation, especially on our Christian brothers," he
emphasized.

River toSeaUprooted PalestinianThe views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Long time no see , no hear , this does not mean that eminent professor Chomsky was idle, there he goes lecturing people and students about the situation. This time, the dull professor -whose dullness is meant to mislead and misinform - reveals again his true affiliations and devotion, except that now he sounds more like a revolutionary rather than a US patriot or a Zionist Jew .

Certainly his beard has grown and Mr. Chomsky of the multi folded agenda and multiple tendencies- ranging from moderate left to Zionism- is now expounding his views about Syria., We had to wait long before our erudite expert grant us the pleasure of hearing his last statements , but it was worth while waiting because what we heard taught us more about the eminent professor than about Syria .

You have to admit that the eminent professor has been a riddle for a long time. A Zionist unusual figure armed with knowledge , objectivity and notoriety rather than nuclear weapons and bully . A mild Jew who would go to the length of denying the holocaust if this had for effect to increase his fans among Arabs and Muslims and cause him to win the hearts of some lost Palestinians .

The Zionist professor who- according to his soul mate- Finkelstein -of the staged lectures with cries and tears- became a Zionist as early as he learned how to put on his trousers , is now standing with the Syrian revolution against the so called dictatorship of president Assad .

Mind you, the smart sneaky professor - as appears in his statement - does not want- in any way- to be associated with the NATO group who is triggering the Syrian events and backing the so called opposition on the ground , because, such an association, would not look good on the record of the free thinker and mild leftist he pretends to be.

For this reason, we see the eminent professor casting himself aside and presenting himself as a supporter of the so called Syrian revolution declaring that this is in antagonism with the US administration who is backing –according to him – the Syrian dictatorship .

Really ! We are here in the presence of real erudition in the form of political Zionist manipulations that we are supposed to believe, and political maneuvers in which we are to partake . Of course the US administration could not be revolutionary ; therefore-if revolution there is- then US administration is on the side of dictator, and if revolution is true and it is so - according to Chomsky - then Chomsky is on the revolutionary side against the US .

This is neither erudition nor free thought , nor moderate left , this is utter Zionism dressed in something else; this is the kind of reasoning Chomsky must have learned and taught at the linguistic department of the MIT.

There is logic in the reasoning except that the first premise is false , if there were revolution then all the reasoning would have been correct, and Chomsky could have kept his good place and the US administration would have to back the dictator. But there is no revolution in Syria, and the US is interfering by way of armed hired thugs paid by gulf countries and trained by the CIA in Turkey in order to operate a regime change . This makes this reasoning a well formulated trick and turns Chomsky into a US version of Bernard Henry levy.River toSeaUprooted PalestinianThe views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

The Sabra-Shatila Massacre: it seems like a dozen weeks, not 30 years ago.
This year American citizens received messages to stay away from Beirut and the
annual commemoration of the Israeli facilitated Massacre at Sabra-Shatila from
their State Department and Beirut Embassy. The latter’s staff on 9/19/12
completed destroying sensitive documents and packing all non-essential items.
The French government too told its citizens not to come to Beirut or participate
in “mass gatherings because of concerns over sudden random violence”.
But they came. Despite the well-meaning admonitions from their governments,
they came in numbers greater than ever before.

They came to bear witness with
the survivors and their families to the horror of this crime against
Palestinians and to plead for justice.

One elderly lady from Haifa, Palestine said bitterly, as foreign delegations
paid their respects at Shatila’s Martyr’s cemetery, “At least God is punishing
Sharon!” She was referring to the coma the architect of the massacre went into
six years ago and who is being sustained in a vegetative mass at the cost of $
400,000 annually, partly paid for by American taxpayers. She lamented, that not
one person has ever been arrested, no one tried, or convicted and Israel has
refused to open its file on the events surrounding the slaughter. Nor has the
American government ever demanded that Israel do so. The Lebanese government has
never even investigated the massacre as a crime.

Authors, photo-chroniclers and historians of the 1982 massacre, Mya Shone and
Ralph Schoenman, replied to a recent New York Times article on the massacre by
reminding us this week that “Ha'aretz recounted on September 26, 1982 the high
level planning that preceded the invasion in service to "the long term objective
aimed at the expulsion of the whole Palestinian population of Lebanon beginning
with Beirut." Shone and Schoenman remind us that the London Sunday Times
reported on the same day: "This carefully pre-planned military operation (to
send Israeli selected militia into Shatila while the IDF sealed the camp to
prevent possible escape) to 'purge' the camps was called Moah Barzel (Iron
Brain); the plan was familiar to Sharon and Begin and was part of Sharon's
larger plan discussed by the Israeli cabinet on July 17."

Each year, local or regional events impact the annual Shatila commemoration
events differently. This year during some of the five days of events that took
foreign visitors to Palestinian camps including Shatila and Mar Elias camps in
Beirut, Burj Shemali and Al-Buss camps in the south and up north to Nahr al
Bared (Cold River) which was destroyed by the Lebanese army in 2007 during the
Fateh al Islam events, there were discussions at meetings and on the buses of
the arrival back into Shatila camp and the other 11 camps of approximately 10,
000 Palestinian refugees from Syria. They are being received as honored guests
by fellow Palestinians but they urgently need help.Arriving refugees tell of how there are some splits in their community over
the Syrian chaos the same as in the Shia, Sunni, Christian, and Druze
communities. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command
(PFLP-GC), which was ejected five weeks ago from Yarmouk camp by other
Palestinians, is claiming that Palestinians who do not endorse President Assad
100 percent are with Al Qaeda and the FSA (Free Syrian Army). On the other
hand, the FSA claim that Palestinians who refuse to join them are with Ahmad
Jabril, the PFLP-GC leader. Yamouk camp residents pay the price from both sides.
Most Palestinians want nothing to do with the politics of the Syrian crisis but
only to live in peace.

Most of those who were recently forced out of Yarmouk camp in Damascus and
back into Shatila had never visited the locus of the slaughter they miraculously
survived 30 years ago. Some expressed deep emotions on returning and observing
parts of the camp that remain much the same as they were following the nearly 50
hours of butchery between September 16-18, 1982.

One gentleman from Yarmouk camp, a Christian, who in 1976 was driven out of
Tel A Zaatar Palestinian camp as it was destroyed by Christian militia, and who
was living in Shatila at the time of the 1982 massacre, expressed his shock of
how the current residents are living at such low heath, nutrition, and
social-economic standards. He expressed surprise to a visiting American
delegation at finding no right to work or ability to own a home. Both of which,
he explained, plus many more rights are enjoyed by Palestinian refugees in
Syria. All the Palestinian refugees arriving from Syria, who were interviewed by
this observer, found conditions in Shatila to be much worse today than at the
time of the massacre, 30 years ago.

Most of the Palestinians arriving from Syria are temporarily staying with
friends or relatives in Lebanon’s 12 camps. 500 families are temporality lodged
in Saida, 30 miles south of Beirut, with 350 families sardine-canned in Ein el
Helwe camp, already extremely densely populated with approximately 20,000
refugees. Roughly 500 Palestinian families, refugees once more, are housed
temporarily in the Bekaa valley bordering Syria, including 250 families staying
at Jilil (Wavell) camp. Scores or other Syrian Palestinian refugees are being
housed in Bedawi camp near Tripoli. A major problem in all the camps is that the
severe overcrowding and limited water and electricity are creating extended
family tensions.

To date not much organized aid has been distributed. UNWRA is still in the
process of making lists of the arriving refugees from Syria, reminding one of
the time it took for that UN agency to access the needs of the Nahr al Bared
displaced refugees in 2007. The UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, whose
mandate does not include Palestinians, is also studying the problem.

But the need for aid is now and urgent. Meeting with individuals on 9/20/12
from the Palestinian camp committees and the local and international NGO
community, three urgent needs were identified facing the refugees from Syria,
whose numbers swell following each Palestinian killed in Syria. On 9/19/20, 18
more Palestinians were killed and so the numbers coming to Lebanon will swell
over the next few days.

Among the three most urgent problems facing the arriving Palestinians from
Syria are Social problems ranging from finding places to live, food, education
and preventing youth from joining local Lebanese militia who offer $100 per day
to Palestinian youth to work as hired guns. A few do fight on both sides of the
Syrian conflict while their mothers and fathers are urging them to ‘stay off the
streets.”

UNWRA has the capacity to help with elementary and secondary schooling in its
52 schools in Lebanon. Hoda al Turki, the hard working spokesperson for UNWRA in
Lebanon has been worried about the difference in curriculum in UNWRA schools in
Lebanon and Syria schools where Palestinians are educated. UNWRA does not
operate schools in Syria. But the afternoon of 9/20/12 a solution was announced
and a curriculum has been agreed on. One of the problems was that Syrian school
teaches the Nakba and Palestinian history but UNWRA schools are forbidden to
teach anything about Palestine lest its funding be cut by the US government
under pressure from the Zionist lobby.

So far the medical needs of the arriving refugees are being met at UNWRA
facilities.
Some are proposing housing the refugees in schools, as was done
following the Nahr al Bared fighting, but the schools are needed for
classes.

One very important Lebanese governmental humanitarian gesture was announced
today ( 9/20/12) and it is that Lebanese General Security, in charge of visa
and immigration matters, has waived all fees for arriving and departing
Palestinian refugees. Permission to remain, previously granted for only 7 days,
will be granted indefinitely without Kafkaesque applications and interview
processes. This is a major boon for the refugees since they have been ruthlessly
exploited on both sides of Maznaa Lebanon-Syria border crossing, with demands
for bribes and per head “transit fees” which quickly stripped many families of
the limited cash they had.

One example: While trying to cross into Lebanon two weeks ago, Um Ahmad was
confronted by a security guard who barked: “if there is no phone number in
Lebanon you need to go back to where you came from in Syria”. She replied to the
security officer, “Sir, you should show us some mercy please. You know that we
are running away from war, we are not here on a vacation.” He replied coldly:”
no phone number, no entry!” A request for a bribe was delivered.

The government of Lebanon deserves praise for its humanitarian action.
Hopefully the Syrian government will follow suit and facilitate the departure
and hopeful return of Palestinian refugees.”
The main economic problem is that the arriving refugees, like all
Palestinians in Lebanon will not be allowed to work.

The third problem is
with security issues. Lebanon has announced that it cannot absorb more
refugees. Yet the figure of 10,000 more expected Palestinians may easily double.
For Palestinians who have been in Lebanon since 1948, many are reaching their
limits of tolerance of the conditions they are forced to live in without
elementary civil rights.

There is general agreement here that while
‘photo-op’ one time NGO aid distributions help and are much appreciated, the way
they tend to be unorganized so far is resulting in refugee families being herded
like cattle from place to place to receive various forms of limited aid and they
are being stripped of their dignity. Sometimes refugees are forced to sit in
the sun until the TV crews arranged by the donors arrive to film this “act of
charity in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

To its credit, Hezbollah have been helping some. The Syrian refugees whether
Sunni, Christian or Druze have received some aid from a center near Saida.
Hezbollah Social Work Committee member Alhaji Mohammed al-Haj said Hezbollah was
assisting our "Syrian brothers as part of the duty to return the favor for what
they did for us in the July war and out of a moral and national obligation of
the resistance."

What is required without further delay is for an urgent stakeholders meeting
to be convened. Including the PLO factions, local and international NGO’s,
Donors, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, UNRWA, EU and UN groups as well as
local political parties in order quickly produce an executable plan avoiding
duplications, to address these needs.

Shatila camp residents, on this 30th anniversary of one of their
darkest hours, are planning to lead this call with a unified, strong, sustained
Palestinian voice to help their sisters and brothers from Syria.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.com

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has been providing vital help to vulnerable Palestinian communities ever since the Sabra and Shatila massacre 30 years ago.

Eyebrows therefore shot up when MAP announced that former foreign secretary David Miliband will be speaking at its Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner tomorrow (Thursday) held in the posh Sheraton Park Lane Hotel.

It seems he’ll be talking about his visit to the West Bank and Gaza.

Miliband will be forever remembered as the British foreign secretary who shamelessly grovelled to Israel’s gangsters for forgiveness for their running the risk of arrest if they set foot in London.
And he’ll be remembered for not having the guts to go visit Gaza, or even Iran while in office.
Back in 2009 Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni and retired general Doron Almog, cancelled engagements in London for fear of being arrested. Israel complained bitterly

Miliband actually apologised to Livni and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman for the arrest warrant issued against Livni. He promised Lieberman to begin working immediately to change the UK laws relating to ‘universal jurisdiction’. He asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Justice Minister Jack Straw to find an urgent solution.

But the general election overtook him. Miliband’s grovelling promise was echoed by his replacement, William Hague, who announced: “We have had good discussions with Israeli ministers on Universal Jurisdiction where the last government left us with an appalling situation where a politician like Mrs Livni could be threatened with arrest on coming to the UK…”

He said it was “completely unacceptable… We have agreed in the coalition about putting it right, we will put it right through legislation… later this year and I phoned Mrs Livni amongst others to tell her about that and received a very warm welcome for our proposals”.

Never mind that British law was operating perfectly properly. The warrants were issued to answer well-founded charges. Under universal jurisdiction all states that are party to the Geneva Conventions are under a binding obligation to seek out those suspected of having committed grave breaches of the Conventions and bring them, regardless of nationality, to justice. There should be no hiding place for those suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Applications could be made to a court for private arrest warrants, and this had been happening because the government itself was in the habit of shirking its duty under the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention and dragging its feet until the bird has flown.

The beauty of the private warrant is that it can be issued speedily.

Lord Wilberforce

Bringing a private prosecution for a criminal offence is an ancient right in common law and, in the words of Lord Wilberforce,

“a valuable constitutional safeguard against inertia or partiality on the part of the authority.”

Lord Diplock, another respected Lord of Appeal, called it “a useful safeguard against capricious, corrupt or biased failure or refusal of those authorities to prosecute offenders against the criminal law”.

Who can forget that Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister, was largely responsible for the terror that brought unspeakable death and destruction to Gaza’s civilians during the blitzkrieg known as Operation Cast Lead?

Showing no remorse and with the blood of 1,400 dead Gazans (including 320 children and 109 women) on her hands, and thousands more horribly maimed, Livni’s office issued a statement saying she was proud of Operation Cast Lead. And speaking later at a conference at Tel Aviv’s Institute for Security Studies, she said:

“I would today take the same decisions.”

In a sane world no British government minister would undermine our justice system in order to make the UK a safe haven for the likes of her.
Yet Miliband’s successor Hague said:

“We cannot have a position where Israeli politicians feel they cannot visit this country. The situation is unsatisfactory [and] indefensible. It is absolutely my intention to act speedily.”

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/07/war-crimes-livni-universal
He even tried to make Livni’s monstrous crimes look good by claiming, as reported on the Conservative Friends of Israel website, that “the immediate trigger for this crisis [the war on Gaza] was the barrage of hundreds of rocket attacks against Israel on the expiry of the ceasefire or truce.” It is well known that the ceasefire didn’t expire. It was deliberately breached by an Israeli raid into Gaza that killed several Palestinians with the intention of provoking a response that would re-ignite the violence and provide an excuse to launch Operation Cast Lead, which the Israelis had been preparing for months.

As for Avigdor Lieberman, he lives in an illegal squat on stolen Palestinian land and is a wanted criminal on that score alone.

Livni bleated: “It’s about the entire State of Israel and our ability to go on working together against common threats.”

Common threats? The threats Israel faces are caused by its racist expansion, land theft, general lawlessness and hateful attitude towards its neighbours, not to mention the nuclear menace Israel itself poses to others in the region and the Islamic world generally. To suggest we have anything in common with the Tel Aviv regime is absurd.

Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s office butted in with this arrogant statement: “We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and [opposition leader and former foreign minister] Tzipi Livni will be summoned to the bench. We utterly reject the absurdity that is happening in Britain.”

Miliband never went to Gaza when he should have done. But he managed to visit Gaza with Save the Children. “I had not been able to visit while in government for security reasons,” he said in an article in The Guardian.

Bollox. Hamas were honour-bound to take good care of him. The only danger would have been an Israeli air-strike or a Mossad assassin. But those risks go with the job. You can’t be an effective foreign secretary wrapped in cotton wool.

With David Miliband heading up foreign policy it was frankly embarrassing to be British. What sort of transformation has the groveller undergone that makes him now worthy of an invitation to MAP? Has he become a new White Knight championing the Palestinian underdog against the evil occupier?
I hope so. But I’ll believe it when I actually see evidence that this particular leopard’s spots have well and truly changed.

Stuart Littlewood’s book Radio Free Palestine, with Foreword by Jeff Halper, can now be read on the internet by visiting www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk .

River toSeaUprooted PalestinianThe views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

In his historical landmark visit to Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI, has
highlighted the Vatican position vis a vis a host of important issues; the
Syrian crisis comes atop of them.
The message that the pontiff disseminated from Lebanon was a multifaceted
one, and it included so many important issues; peace, coexistence, tolerance and
partnership, but the significance of the whole visit and the messages delivered
during it is being highlighted more and more because of the sensitively delicate
and exceptionally turbulent situation that the whole region is going
through.

The Pope has chosen Lebanon as a platform to launch his message to assert the
pivotal role our country is prepared to perform in the region, and in the whole
world at this juncture of time.

The first message the Pontiff sent, was a message of peaceful coexistence
between Muslims and Christians which could ultimately serve as an exemplary
model that could be emulated by all religious groups across the globe.

The second message expressed great fear over the Christians in the Orient,
which reflects the serious concern of the Catholic Church about their fate.

The third message addressed the Syrian Crisis, and clarified the
Pontiff approach which rejects the use of violence and call for the stoppage of
arms shipments to the country, and most importantly, asserts the need for a
political solution which could only come via thorough and persistent efforts to
initiate a constructive dialogue between the Syrian government and the
opposition groups.

The Vatican perspective concerning the Syrian crisis is contradictory to the
US and Western governments approach, and their conflicting positions put both
parties on a colliding track. Of course, the Pope does not have the capability
to mobilize and move armies, but he has, in his capacity, a great sentimental
and moral power that adds a significant value and rally the support of people
behind his viewpoint.
Amid this turbulent chaos tormenting the region, his voice comes as the voice
of wisdom, rationality and reason compared to fanatic endeavors to destroy Syria
and to drag it into a civil war which would lead into its destruction
ultimately, and thus the exodus of its Christians as was the case in Iraq
before, on the hands of almost the same Western and Arab powers.

The Public in the West has a great responsibility to take side with the Pope
and not with the governments that brought to him nothing but disastrous results
on social and economic levels because of its greedy and hostile nature to
finance wars And occupation against our region.

And we have an equal responsibility to be successful whistle blowers who
could participate in making the awakening come to the brain-washed Western
masses who are either ignorant or indifferent about the criminal policies
conducted by their representatives in governments and parliaments.

The battle for the most part is a battle of conscience and awareness, and
people in the West have the means to bring the anticipated change by questioning
their representatives about their actions, and by punishing them in elections
unless they abide by certain conditions.

This is an indispensable and inevitable battle that should be fought to win
the minds and hearts of the Western masses that can do and will do a lot, once
they are in the right side of the equation, where only the voice of wisdom could
resound and prevail.

Dr.
Ibrahim Mousawi is a political analyst and the Chief of Hezbollah’s Media
Relations.River toSeaUprooted PalestinianThe views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!